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I can’t spend energy worrying about him. Besides, he’s got an army to keep him safe.
What do I have?
Ulyana once told me that we must do unthinkable things for survival. Forcing my chin not to wobble, I reach for the pen. Before I touch it, Josh gives it a tap to push it closer to me. Even here, when I’m about to agree, he wants to hurry me along.
“If it means I get to be with my baby …” I say earnestly.
“It does.” Josh’s face lights up with glee. “You won’t regret this, Galina.”
He’s wrong.
I already do.
45
ARSEN
I’m having the nightmare again.
Galina’s sweet face, turned pallid from death, stares blindly up at me. I wipe blood from her cheeks, spreading the color until it looks like blush on her dead skin.
Whether I’m awake or asleep, I can’t escape the tragedy of losing the woman I love.
A hand shakes me roughly and I sit up, coming awake at the sight of Mikhail standing over me in the darkness of my bedroom.
“What’s going on?” I demand.
“Pakhan, it’s the dance studio.” He shows me his phone. My eyes take a second to adjust, but when they do, I stare hard. Fire twists in a torrid dance around the remaining structure on the screen. The building is blackened by smoke. Red and blue lights from police and fire trucks are flashing. “It’s been burned to the ground.”
“When did this happen?” I snarl, throwing my covers aside.
“Just twenty minutes ago. I came as soon as I was notified.”
“That long?” I snap, throwing clothing on as I speak. “Was no one watching?”
“There was a shift change,” he explains nervously. Sweat makes the sides of his forehead shiny.
Buttoning my shirt, I give him an icy glare. “I’ll worry about that later. For now, I need information about who did this.”
He nods anxiously, relieved I’m not taking my anger out on him. “Every indication points to Yevgeniy.”
“That’s what I assumed,” I mutter under my breath. Galina is going to be heartbroken. I haven’t spoken to her since the van drove off over a week ago. I replay our last conversation … And I think about how Ulyana convinced me that letting her leave was the best move.
Eyeing the wreckage of her studio, I begin to wonder how wrong I was.
My fingers knot up painfully as I snatch my phone from my bedside. “Leave me. I want to make this call alone.” Mikhail doesn’t hesitate; he rushes from the room, shutting the door in his wake.
At first I sit on the edge of my bed. My legs twitch, the muscles bunching in my calves. It’s impossible to stay stationary. Rising, I start pacing the room from one end to the other. The phone swings back and forth at my side.
I’m working myself into a froth over what’s happened. It’s the opposite of the cool composure I should have for this call, but it’s out of my hands. Anything that threatens Galina has the ability to slip past my rational brain.
I’ll fucking kill him!
Breathing through clenched teeth, I tap at my phone, then push it against my ear. It rings and rings, but I stay on the line. I’m sure he’ll pick up. He’s been waiting for this.
The ringing stops. There’s a soft, breathy chuckle that slithers into my eardrum.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of a call from you at two in the morning?”
